Nixon Yields, Will Accept Test Of His Guaranteed Income Plan

WASHINGTON, Feb. 2 —Bowing to pressure from Senate critics, the White House said today that it would accept testing of President Nixon's income maintenance program for the poor so action could be obtained this year on his broad welfare reform proposals.

Until now the Administration had firmly rejected all suggestions that the income floor program for the “working poor” be tested before it was enacted.

The abrupt change in position was an apparently successful attempt to regain the support of Senator Abraham A. Ribicoff, Democrat of Connecticut, in the fight for establishing a guaranteed income—a key part of the President's welfare reform proposals.

At a meeting today, Elliot L. Richardson, Secretary of Health, Education and Welfare, and John D. Ehrlichman, the President's assistant on domestic affairs, worked out a compromise with Mr. Ribicoff in his office.

Details of the Administration's new position are expected to be disclosed at a news conference tomorrow.

Last Friday, Mr. Ribicoff stunned both the Administration and Senate Democratic liberals by backing away from support of the income floor plan. Instead, he called for a testing program “to see if, this kind of scheme really works.”

As sponsor of an even broader income floor plan‐than the Administration had proposed, Mr. Ribicoff had been one of the few members of the Senate Finance Committee supporting the concept of a guaranteed annual income for all the poor.

He was regarded as the only liberal on the largely conservative committee with the stature —both, as to seniority and familiarity with welfare programs—to lead a floor fight either for his own bill or the Administration's measure.

His move, leaving the Administration without an effective ally on the committee, was viewed by some as reflecting pique on his part because of his feeling that President Nixon had failed to lobby actively for his own program, particularly among members of his own Republican party.

Since then, the Administration has sought to heal the breech. Mr. Nixon telephoned Mr. Ribicoff Monday night to assure him of his continued support of welfare reform. Officials of the Department of Health, Education and Welfare also have sought to reassure the Senator.

Today, Ronald L. Ziegler, press secretary to the President, told newsmen that the White House was prepared to accept testing of the income floor plan if necessary to get action this year on the overall welfare reform bill.

“We're willing to talk about differences and views with Senators,” he said. “We are willing to consider their views if it will move H.R. 1, [the Administration's House‐passed welfare reform bill] off dead center.”

The Administration's stand will be more fully outlined at a news conference tomorrow by Elliot L. Richardson, the Secretary of Health, Education and Welfare.

As passed by the House last year—the bill is stalled in the Senate—the Administration bill would provide a guaranteed annual income for all the poor, including those already holding loiv‐pay jobs. The program was to go into effect Jan. 1, 1974.

“It's strictly for, the birds, not for human beings,” said Mrs. Beulah Sanders of New York, a welfare mother and chairman of the National Welfare Rights Organization at a hearing also attended by a number of children of the welfare recipients.

Denouncing the President's welfare bill as “grossly inadequate” and “worse than nothing,” the organization called instead for a $50‐billion program to assure an income floor of $6,500 a year for all Americans.

By opposing the Administration's welfare reform bill, with its $2,400 guaranteed income for a typical family of four, the welfare rights group finds itself allied with such other critics as Gov. Ronald Reagan of California and most members of the Senate Finance Cornmitteebut for different reasons.

While the welfare rights group terms the Nixon plan inadequate, Governor Reagan, testifying before the committee yesterday, termed it far too liberal.

Stung by speeches in which Senator Russell B. Long of Louisiana, chairman of the committee, had deplored the number of illegitimate children on welfare, Mrs. Sanders accused him of lacking “human concern” for the nation's children.

“How can you guarantee any person in this room is legitimate?” she asked angrily. Then, turning to Mr. Long, she added, “How can you guarantee you are legitimate?”

“Very well,” Senator Long said quietly. “Utter any insult you want to me. I want to help the same people you want to help. Use polite language, use impolite language, anything you want to.”

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A version of this archives appears in print on February 3, 1972, on Page 1 of the New York edition with the headline: Nixon Yields, Will Accept Test Of His Guaranteed Income Plan. Order Reprints|Today's Paper|Subscribe